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The Orange County Artists Guild is a non-profit organization of "artists supporting artists." The Guild -- representing artists in Orange County, NC -- was begun in 2000 by a group of diverse artists who participated in the Orange County Open Studio Tour, a popular annual event since 1995. Visit our website to see examples of each artist's work. And keep up with our latest activities on Facebook.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Perhaps because of my scientific background and my lack of formal training as an artist, I have taken many risks and explored new techniques in my work. My textural surfaces are built with paint; many layers of paint built up one over the other. I don’t use modeling paste or other fillers, just paint, straight from the containers, mixed right on the canvas. It’s a physical process. I apply paint in various, sometimes unusual, ways: pouring, splashing, dripping, scratching, and so on… until I get what I am after.

It’s Still a Brilliant World ~ Acrylic on Canvas ~ 40 x 60

The steps I go through are unpremeditated and unplanned. I begin by using different colors to fill the canvas in a rather emotional way. I might apply two or three layers this way, and then as shapes and forms emerge, a direction becomes apparent. Then, I have to think hard about what I want from the painting. I become immersed in the painting to meet the challenges it presents to me at this point. Sometimes, this internal struggle takes more time than what I spend on the actual application of paint to the canvas. When I go back to the painting with definite ideas and direction, it may take several more layers to achieve my aims. Thus, my work is guided through its material operations by intuitive processing of my moods, feelings, and flights of fancy.

Finding My Way to the Stars II ~ Acrylic on Canvas ~ 24 X 30

I strive to produce paintings that exhibit the powerful emotions embodied in the process. That is much more important to me than making images that are necessarily pleasing or objectively beautiful. An image arrived at through such a slow, deliberative set of processes appears fresh and immediate by maintaining spontaneity at every turn. The destination is unknown until I finally get there.

Back When However We Moved We Danced the Tune ~ Acrylic on Canvas ~ 40 x 60

The title of each painting ideally hints at both its physical appearance and the poetic ambiguity of the long journey that brings it into being. A title should attach a painting to the world beyond its appearance, the world that claims a voice that speaks to the viewer of its unseen message. A fellow artist and friend, Adam Narcross, once said, “Eduardo’s paintings are far from mute. All you have to do is listen, and the whisper you hear is the music that comes from the hand of one of the gentlest souls to grace canvas with the loving caress of a brush or palette knife.”